I'm not going to even try and come up with an excuse why I'm starting a new story when I got some many already on the go…I hope you don't mind! This is set during s2.
Enjoy!
Family Wars
"And this is Raphael, who works in sales." Peter said, causing Raph to turn around and see his boss with a young woman.
"Hi." He smiled and held out his hand.
"Raph, this is Christina…She's joining the administration office." Peter told him.
"Nice to meet you." Christina replied shaking his hand just as Peter's cell phone rang.
"Ah, I need to take this…" Peter said after seeing the caller's ID. "Raph, can you finish the tour, we haven't done the break room, yet?"
"Of course…Follow me." Raph gestured with his arms to lead towards the break room.
"So, have you been working here long?" Christina asked as he held the door open for her.
"No about three months." He answered.
"I'm always nervous about meeting new people." She admitted. "And I just moved to the area so I don't have many friends yet."
"Oh…Well you do now." He grinned at her.
She laughed a little. "That was easy."
"I'm sure you'll make more friends in no time." Raph replied. "But everyone here is nice and Peter is a great boss."
"Do you know Peter well?"
"He is actually dating my fiancée's sister." Raph told her.
"You're engaged? That must be exciting. Are you getting married soon?"
"Mary…She gets busy so we've had trouble pinning down a date."
"I'm sorry, I'm being too nosy."
"No, it's fine…" Raph assured her. "If it was up to me, we'd get married next week but Mary's job can keep her occupied…"
"Is she in sales too?"
Raph couldn't help but laugh at the idea. "No, she's a US Marshal."
"Oh wow….That's pretty cool."
"I guess…" He sighed. "I just worry about her."
"I dated a police officer." She sympathized. "I always hated waiting for him to come…Especially after he did a night shift."
"Did he move here with you?"
"No, we broke up…. He cheated on me with his partner."
Raph looked up at her quickly. "His partner?"
"Yep, I should have known…They were so close."
"Well, I guess it's the kind of job where they have to be close, right?"
"I guess…" She shrugged but noticed the concerned look on his face, confirming her first thoughts about him being insecure about his relationship. "But I'm sure, you don't have to worry…I mean, Rob and Lucy used to spend all their time outside of work as well…"
"Oh I know…Mary would never do that…We're getting married." Raph insisted but she could see the doubt in his eyes.
"Right." Christina smiled. "Well, I should probably get back to my desk."
"I'll see you around…"
Christina gave him a little wave before heading in the direction she had come from but instead of going to her desk, she went out of the door to the parking lot. She pulled out her phone and scrolled through her contact list until she found the number she wanted.
"Hi, it's me…I need you to run a check on a Raphael Ramirez….He's dating Mary Shannon…I don't care about her but I can use her and her boyfriend to get to Mann! Just call me when you have some information."
XxXxX
Christina grinned when she read the text message she just received and saw the cell phone number she had been trying to get a hold of. She had been in Albuquerque for two weeks and so far things have been going well. When she first arrived, she had known about Peter Alpert's connection to Marshall Mann via Mary Shannon but she had counted her lucky stars when she discovered Raphael actually had a few issues about Marshall because of his closeness to Mary. During those two weeks, she carefully listened and asked the right questions to get him to open up about Marshall.
Now with this phone number, she could finally put her plan into action. She didn't waste time in calling it and grinned when she heard a familiar voice.
"Hi…It's me…" She said. "No, don't hang up…Please, just listen to me…It doesn't matter where I got the number…I have connections, you know that….Just listen…You can't shut me out…I won't let you ….If you try I'll make both your lives hell…Oh come on, you know me…I don't make threats….Just promises….I know you…I know this is what you want…I'm what you want… Just admit it."
As expected the line went dead but she still had her smile on her face as she pocketed her phone. She had a feeling that he would make her do this the hard way.
XxXxX
"Hey, Raph…Can I sit here?" Christina asked when she saw him in the break room.
It had been six weeks since she started working at Alpert's Autoplex and she and Raph were getting along really well.
"Of course." He moved his stuff over to give her some room.
"Sell many cars today?"
"Just the one…But the day is still young." He replied, checking with cell phone and sighed.
"Everything okay?"
"Yes, its fine…Just waiting to hear from Mary….We had an argument this morning and now she's not answering my messages."
"About her job again?"
"It's complicated…" Raph told her.
"Is her partner still hanging around a lot?"
"Even when they're not together, they always on the phone or texting each other." He sighed. "I just can't get her to understand how it makes me feel."
"I'm sorry." Christina placed a hand on his arm. "But like you always say, they have to be close to be able to do their job."
"I guess."
"Well, at the least it's Friday." She said cheerfully. "You got much planned for the weekend?"
"Oh, I forgot to say…We're having a BBQ for Brandi's birthday tomorrow…You should come."
"Really?"
"Yeah, it'll be great."
"Will Mary be there?"
"If nothing comes up from work."
"I'll look forward to meeting her."
"And her partner." Raph continued. "Maybe the two of you will get on well."
She raised an eyebrow. "What does that mean?"
"Well, you're both single…"
"You want me to date your fiancée's partner?" She questioned. "Is this just to keep him away from Mary?"
"He's really a nice guy." Raph claimed. "And maybe if he had his own girlfriend then he wouldn't hang around so much."
"I can't believe you're setting me up on a date."
"Please, I wouldn't ask you to do this but I think you'll really like him."
She sighed. "I guess it won't hurt to meet him."
"Great!" Raph grinned and stood up. "I've got to go but I'll see you tomorrow."
"Bye." She grinned widely as he walked away. "This is too easy."
TBC
So, who is Christina? Why is she after Marshall and just how much danger is he in? Please review and let me know what you think!
